LR Baggs Anthem Acoustic Guitar Pickup Reviews

Bradley Sharp
from
April 11, 2013Music Background:
Touring Musician

The best piece of gear you'll purchase.

If you need to plug in your acoustic for live purposes, buy this. It turned my buddy's 1942 Gibson L-00 from a great studio guitar with an awful live sound with it's K&K mini, to the best acoustic I've ever heard live. With the blend control he can get the exact tone he needs, and you never have to worry about batteries dying in the middle of a set with the LED indicators.
Again, if you need to plug in your acoustic, BUY THIS PICKUP.

Lynn
from Michigan
February 24, 2013Music Background:
Pro musician, Singer/Songwriter

Great acoustic sound

I just had Sweetwater install an Anthem into my Martin D-18 . The ease of use with volume and mix control right at the perfect access spot. The Phase Inversion is a handy option, depending on where you use your guitar. The Mic control is excellent with virtually no feed-back problems and great control over handling noise. Overall this is a great pick-up.

Jon Dooly
from Rogers, AR USA
February 20, 2013Music Background:
Semi-Pro Musician, Worship Leader, Acoustic Nut

Great Product from LR Baggs

I have an Alvarez Yairi DY-84. I installed a Martin Thinline right after I got it in 2005. I started playing music semi-professionally this past year. I read reviews and this pickup always popped up and reviews were great, I had it professionally installed and wow the sound that my acoustic had plugged in was just amazing. My next guitar, an Alvarez DY-38 will get the same pickup soon.

Steve Rodin
from Fairview (Portland OR)
December 7, 2012Music Background:
Local Professional Performing Songwriter

New #1

I recently had a Breedlove Custom guitar built for me. I was asked if I wanted the Anthem Tru-Voice system. I did not know what it was so I said no and went with the M1 passive soundhole pickup. I have used 4 such pickups in prior purchases, so I thought it was the best. For some reason, that match was not a good one for me. Never like the tone and touch sounds were loud as string sounds. What I wanted was the Taylor ES system in my Breedlove... but NO WAY JOSE! Then I caught wind of the collaboration between Breedlove and LR Baggs in the design of a NEW PICKUP SYSTEM. I the new Breedloves, this is a factory set blend version of this system. The new Breedlove Voice system is built on the work of Baggs & Breedlove to master acoustic sound for live performance.
THEY DID IT!!! You can now get studio quality miked sound at any volume without feedback. Gotta tell you this is a really bright, lively, full spectrum sound. You can turn the volume up and play extremely soft and get the tone you get acoustically but louder. I saw a review where someone said they thought this was the new leader... No 1. Then the said, second place is no longer in the rear view mirror. Let me tell you, my Taylor 814ce acoustic sound is almost the same as the Breedlove. Plugged in... Breedlove with Anthem sounds natural, 814 sounds a bit metalic. Never noticed that until now. If you like the ES, you'll be blown away by this pickup.
IT IS THAT GOOD!

Bruce Lisenby
from Waco, TX
November 12, 2012Music Background:
Hobbyist, worship leader

Acoustic Guitar pick-up

Awesome product and...service. Thanks again guys.

Jim Young
from Orange County, NY
March 18, 2012Music Background:
Worship Pastor

We have a winner!!!

This thing measures up to the hype. I really took a risk getting this based on some reviews online, especially at this price point. I'm really glad I did. I had this put in my 97 Taylor 420 to replace the fishman matrix pickup I had in it. This thing actually makes my guitar sound like a guitar! I'm playing in a full band at church where we normally run at about 90-94 db and I have had no problems with noise or feedback. My friend heard this and then played his Taylor with the expression system and ordered the Anthem the next day!

I was skeptical, but I'm glad I took the plunge. That is all...

Jared
from
October 12, 2011Music Background:
Sound Guy / Average Guitarist

Blown Away!

Working at a decent sized church we've had dozens of guitars come through, from professional musicians with their own bus, to the mid-week-fill-in-guy who knows four chords. So long story short I've heard a ton of guitars through our system. Our worship leader has owned five or six guitars since I've been here, Taylor, Martin, Takamine, Ibanez, but she's settled on a Baden A-Style Mahogany with a cedar top that had just the right amount of warmth and projection, it's really a great sounding guitar. At $1800 it came with the "newset and greatest" Fishman Aura-Ellipse on board a couple years ago, and at the time i thought it sounded great. I will say it took quite a while, and lots of adjustments to get the sound we wanted but in the end it sounded really good. So Baden goes out of business, and last year I find a used one identical to the one our worship leader plays for $600, I bought it knowing how good it sounds and how much of a steal that was for what they used to sell for. I finally got around to putting a pickup in it because it didn't come with one, and I went with the Anthem.

IT"S NOT EVEN CLOSE...

This is the best sounding pickup I've ever heard and second place isn't even visible in the distance. I set it up (mic gain) at home and then took it to Church this morning, set the EQ flat, plugged into a basic Radial DI with no adjustment, and was absolutely blown away. It really is unbelievable, especially when comparing the Fishman Aura-Ellipse and The Baggs Anthem side by side in the same exact guitar. The Anthem sounds so much better straight out of the Box, and I cranked the montiors to check for feedback... nothing (if the phase is set right) . If funds weren't an issue I'd rip that Fishman out and replace it with an Anthem TODAY, on an $1800 guitar!!! Every professional musician I know who's heard it says the same thing, including the custom guitar builder I had put it in, it's really unbelivable, it sounds just like your guitar.

If your in the market, buy it, it will blow you away.

John D
from Redmond, WA USA
August 29, 2011Music Background:
Serious amateur

Great sound, no feedback issues

Had this professionally installed into a D-28CW. It captures so much detail I have to be careful how I move my arm. I love the spacious and airy quality I get from this bass-heavy box. I keep the adjustment nearly pegged to the microphone setting, and haven't run into feedback issues with a PA or my small amp.

This sounds much better than an under-saddle element on its own, including a good pickup of percussion taps on the body. If you want less of that, you can dial up more of the under-saddle element.

I am running this through a Venue DI. Initially I was running the mids down a bit but now I'm liking the sound more flat. I do find that this pickup produces less signal than my others (like the Fishman in my Cargo); I use the DI to boost the signal before it goes to the desk.

If you find your sound is odd, definitely switch the phase (easy to do between songs). It makes a big difference in some circumstances.

Sean
from Ohio
September 25, 2010Music Background:
Hobby musician

GREAT PICKUP!

Great natural sounding pickup and mic combination! Easy to install.

RAH
from Philadelphia, Peay
January 27, 2012Music Background:
Hobbyist

Very Nice Sound

I upgraded my Guild F50R jumbo guitar from the factory-installed Fishman Matrix pickup to the LR Baggs Anthem, and I'm 99% satisfied with my decision. The sound is so much more natural than the previous pickup - I'm really happy with that aspect. The reason that I dinged it a half-star is because of the following considerations:
- First, unless you are *very* comfortable with working on guitars, you are going to need to have a professional install this. For me, this added a significant additional cost to the decision to upgrade.
- Second, though the sound is much more pure coming out of the Anthem pickup than my old Matrix, the signal is waaaaay weaker. I use an acoustic guitar preamp when playing live, and with my old pickup, I had to have the preamp gain way down at 1 or 2 or else I could overpower with my signal. With the Anthem, regardless of whether it's on the mic setting or transducer setting, I have to set the preamp gain to about 75% of max just to get a comparable output level. In the end, if you have a good preamp this isn't an issue, but if you're used to having a strong signal without a good preamp, you may need to consider getting a preamp along with this pickup.

All in all though, I'm very pleased with the sound and I don't regret my decision.

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